The anniversary of Roe v. Wade is a reminder that the battle for women’s rights is far from over.
I have grown to hate the term “judicial activism” because it is frequently used by conservatives to criticize court decisions they simply don’t like. Still, there are few alternative phrases that accurately describe the Alabama Supreme Court’s decision in the consolidated cases of Amanda Kimbrough and Hope Ankrom, two women who were swept up in the Alabama judiciary’s zeal to promote an anti-choice personhood agenda by redefining the word “child” in Alabama’s chemical endangerment statute, so that it now applies to pregnant women who uses any amount of controlled substances, whether prescribed by a doctor or not.
If state judicial elections continue to be a big-money game, reproductive health and social justice could lose big.
The anti-choice activists are up at arms over an elderly activist allegedly arrested for “sprinkling holy water.” But was it a “sprinkle” or an assault?
Reproductive health and rights were once again the subject of extensive debate in state capitols in 2012. Over the course of the year, 42 states and the District of Columbia enacted 122 provisions related to reproductive health and rights. One-third of these new provisions, 43 in 19 states, sought to restrict access to abortion services.
We can all agree that forcing women to undergo abortions or sterilizations is wrong — but so is forcing women to gestate and give birth to children they don’t want. It’s time we considered both sides of reproductive coercion.
In granting review of Shelby Co. v. Holder the Roberts Court sent signals the Voting Rights Act is in real trouble.
With a slew of judicial races to watch, voters showed they have little tolerance for overtly politicizing the bench.
The GOP platform committee did not amend language from the 2004 and 2008 GOP platforms, which “assert the sanctity of human life,” and provide no exceptions to abortion in any case whatsoever. The committee add language opposing drugs such as mifepristone, but members agreed that this platform amendment did not apply to EC.
In the first half of 2012, states enacted 95 new provisions related to reproductive health and rights. As was the case in 2011, issues related to abortion, family planning funding and sex education once again were significant flashpoints in many legislatures .
